A common challenge for those persons afflicted with physically disabling conditions is the performance of daily tasks such as dressing oneself For example, a stroke victim having some degree of paralysis or weakness may experience difficulty in putting on a lower garment, such as a pair of pants or a skirt. The task of putting on one's pants requires one to accomplish a number of activities almost simultaneously, namely standing while grasping the top edge of the article of clothing and maintaining that grasp while fastening the article of clothing, such as by zipping and buttoning a pair of pants. A disabled person may find any one or all of these activities difficult, let alone their near simultaneous accomplishment. One common scenario is that a person may be able to stand up while grasping the garment, but then has difficulty maintaining his or her balance and experiences the garment sliding down when trying to fasten the article.
Various apparatuses are disclosed that secure articles of clothing in the desired position. For example, apparatuses for holding down one's shirt are known. Illustrative of that class of apparatuses is U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,886, issued to Ellis on Jul. 3, 1990 and entitled "Infant Shirt Hold-Down", which teaches an apparatus comprising a wide, elongated elasticized section from which extends a pair of straps from each end thereof, with an operable fastener being provided at the end of each strap. The apparatus is intended to hold down a child's upper garment, such as a shirt. Ellis teaches that the apparatus is passed between the child's legs and the strap fasteners are fastened to the lower edges of the upper garment. Other disclosures of similar apparatuses include U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,813, issued to Bosack and entitled "Shirttail Retaining Harness"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,814, issued to Courtney and entitled "Shirt Retainer"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,923, issued to Cohen and entitled "Shirt Hold-Down Device"
The above-described references related to shirttail retaining apparatuses do not disclose a device that would assist a disabled person in donning a lower garment, but simply relate to securing an upper garment. Moreover, the fastening mechanisms contemplated for use with the shirttail retaining apparatuses are garter clips or jawed hinge clips, which require more dexterity than fastening an article of clothing and would offer no help to a disabled person attempting to clothe himself
In contradistinction from the above-described devices, suspenders or suspender-like devices are known for holding up trousers or lower garments, rather than holding down upper garments. A disclosure for suspenders is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,429, issued to Lucier and assigned on its face to New England Accessories. Therein, Lucier discloses combination suspenders having interchangeable clip ends and button strap ends connected to the suspender straps for use with either button or buttonless trousers. While suspenders such as disclosed by Lucier are useful in supporting a lower garment, the clips contemplated for engaging the lower garment are jawed hinged clips which are openable and closeable via a latching lever. Like garter clips, jawed hinged clips require one to position the clothing between the jaws and then secure the clothing by engaging a lever, which is a two-step process that disabled persons might find difficult or impossible to complete.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,669, issued to Rasdell et al. and entitled "Clothing Anchor Apparatus", teaches an apparatus for securing clothing in position, and is particularly contemplated to anchor the front and back tails of shirts. The apparatus includes an elastic strap at each end of which is a clothing connector. The clothing connector disclosed by Rasdell et al. comprises a female connector member and a male connector member, such that the user must position the garment therebetween and then latch the male connector member into the upper rim of the female connector. Again, a disabled person might find the steps of positioning the garment within the connectors and latching the connectors to be onerous.
The clips employed by each of the above-described apparatuses therefore require a combination of steps for engagement that a disabled person might find prohibitive. However, there are certain types of clips that would present less difficulty in engaging than garter clips or jawed hinge clips. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,374, issued to Drake and entitled "Closure Clip for Plastic Bags and Similar Articles", discloses a hinged clip that is operated by simply manually squeezing together the arms of the clip to open its jaws then releasing to close the jaws. However, this type of hinged clip would not be useful underneath clothing because of its bulky shape. An example of a commercially available hinged clip operable by squeezing together the arms of the clip is the "Chip Clip.RTM.", which is intended for use in closing potato chip bags.
It would be desirable to develop a lower garment suspension apparatus employing hinged clips that could be more readily operated by disabled persons than the garter clips commonly employed in suspenders, for example. The apparatus should be of simple and durable construction, with the hinged clips requiring a minimal amount of strength to open yet capable of firmly holding clothing when engaged.